Plumb Beach
Brooklyn, NYC
Friday 13 May 2022
71 °F
THURSDAY, MAY 5:
Today, I took advantage of a free first half of the day and beautiful 70-degree weather to hit up an old favorite spot as well as a new experimental birding location, both in Brooklyn.
So I arrived at my old favorite location, Plumb Beach, in the 8 o’clock hour and immediately noted a welcome sight in the form of flyover COMMON TERNS:
This flyby female BLACK SCOTER was a nice surprise for May:
Nice to see BRANT still around:
MUTE SWAN:
MERLIN was also a great surprise:
There were many Horseshoe Crabs washed up on shore and several of them were overturned (which is a death sentence for them), so I uprighted probably about 10, including this one which was covered in mussels. This helps the ecological distribution because this species’ population is threatened by other human-induced factors.
I had a grand time photographing LAUGHING GULLS:
Flyover OSPREY:
AMERICAN OYSTERCATCHER was an FOY bird for me:
As was LEAST SANDPIPER:
And SAVANNAH SPARROW (plus a pesky SEASIDE SPARROW that got away from me before I could photo):
SNOWY EGRETS abounded:
As did BOAT-TAILED GRACKLES, another FOY:
GREAT EGRET:
WILLET:
Then, I took a short uber ride to nearby Floyd Bennet Field to look for birds and herps. There was a decent amount of songbird activity including NORTHERN MOCKINGBIRD:
WOOD THRUSH:
And two FOY birds — MAGNOLIA WARBLER:
And FIELD SPARROW:
Apart from a heard-only American Toad, I didn’t find any herps unfortunately. So Floyd Bennet was slightly underwhelming. Bird-of-the-day goes to the surprise Black Scoter with runner-up to the pesky unphotographed Seaside Sparrow which I was hoping to see today. Yet another great day of FOY birds!
Good birding,
Henry
World Life List: 1129 Species
Great variety of sightings! Loved seeing the oystercatcher. I have a fondness for horseshoe crabs, since thought they were funny in childhood. As you probably know, their blue blood is used to test drug ingredients for contaminants. Bled almost dry then thrown back. Sad. I hope that is changing. So nice to see the coastal birds! Thanks!
by Mary Mc